The servants' night off
While the family is out for a formal dinner (a disastrous one, as it turns out) for the girls' debutante season; their devoted servants, Bryan Steensland; Amelia Stansberry; Anitra Hollis; and Shirley Amberson, enjoy a rare evening off. Scene Dylan's townhouse. The four servants of the household, Mrs. Amberson, the senior housekeeper, and the girls' maid; Mrs. Hollis, the family's cook; Bryan Steensland, the guys' manservant/butler; and Amelia Stansberry, the second housekeeper, are relaxing in the living room. The family is out of the house at a formal dinner, one of the first for the debutante seasons of Cathy and Ashley and the other female cousins. MRS. AMBERSON: Well, with the family out, what do you want to do? BRYAN: I am not quite sure, Mrs. Amberson. (his expression is concerned) I do hope Dylan and Derek are all right. MRS. AMBERSON: They will be, Mr. Steensland. I hope Ashley and Cathy took their wraps. I am sure it is cold. AMELIA: They did, Mrs. Amberson, I remember them taking them. I know we should stick around, because the family will be back in a while. MRS. HOLLIS: I am sure that is not the case, Amelia. They let me know before they left for the dinner that they won't be in until much later. I think they were going to the theater later on, depending on the dinner. I made some nice leftovers for us to have. I think we will be fine. BRYAN: What did you make? MRS. HOLLIS (beaming with pride): Some chicken we had from the other night. I also called in some take out for us as well. AMELIA: I see some DVDs that the master had received. Downton Abbey. Shall we watch? BRYAN: That would be wonderful. MRS. HOLLIS: Our food should be here soon. (The bell rings.) BRYAN: That is it. Who is paying for it? MRS. AMBERSON: I am. I have the money. (Mrs. Amberson pays for the food. A lot of Chinese take-out is situated around the card table that Mrs. Hollis brings out.) MRS. HOLLIS: Ready for eating, everyone? EVERYONE: Yes. (An hour later, Bryan sets up the DVD player. Mrs. Hollis spoons up the food, as she usually does. Everyone enjoys their meals.) AMELIA: I never understood that O'Brien dame (the role Siobhan Finneran played on Downton Abbey). She was nasty! Mean as a snake, she was! MRS. AMBERSON: I always liked that Mrs. Patmore (the role Lesley Nicol played on DA). She was quite a tough old girl. Although I wished she was not so mean to that poor Daisy. MRS. HOLLIS: She also loved her dearly, you could tell that. MRS. AMBERSON: Yes, she truly did love her too. She was like a daughter to her. BRYAN: I thought that Matthew was quite something else. Very enterprising he was (Dan Stevens played Matthew Crawley on DA). And quite good looking too. MRS. HOLLIS: I have to agree with you, Mrs. Amberson. Mrs. Patmore was a perfect cook. MRS. AMBERSON (winking): Thank you, Anitra. (They hear a car coming down the street.) MRS. HOLLIS: Oh, Lord! They're here already? BRYAN (truly worried now): Yes, they are! Something must have gone wrong. AMELIA (panicked): What about the cleaning? MRS. AMBERSON: Let's not worry! Let's see what happened. (Enter Sheila, Dylan and the others. They are a mix of dejected and angry.) BRYAN: Sir, Madam! I am sorry about the mess. SHEILA (quietly): Don't worry. It's not your fault. It's your night off. DYLAN (he is angry and sad): What a time that was. The dinner was a disaster! AMELIA (immediately worried): What happened, sir? DYLAN (sadly): You name it, it happened. Someone took some tomato soup and threw it all over Cathy's dress! MRS. AMBERSON (instantly in mother mode): Oh good God! How is she? CATHY (tired): I was irate, but thankfully, I had an extra dress. My Vera Wang I got for Homecoming. It worked as well. But you should have seen Ashley. She was angrier than I was. ASHLEY (still a bit angered): I demanded that waiter be fired! The dinner was undercooked. I swear, it was a complete disaster! WENDY (upset): And to top it all off, the theater performance was cancelled! MRS. AMBERSON: Cancelled?! Whatever for? WENDY: The actors got ptomaine poisoning from THEIR dinner! So, our whole night was shot! MRS. HOLLIS: Well, don't you worry, Mrs. Harper. We have everything here and ready for you. We have a feast here. It's anything unlike what you were all expecting, but I hope you are all right with it. DYLAN (worried): But, this is YOUR night off! And we're interloping on that. BRYAN (compassionately): Nonsense, sir. You need some food too. WENDY: They're right, honey. There is plenty. It looks like. Sorry we ruined your night off. MRS. AMBERSON: It's all right. We want to help you all out. You help us all the time. DYLAN: Thank you, you four. You aren't just servants to us, you four. You're like family to us. Amelia, you and Bryan were with us from the beginning. Mrs. Hollis, we couldn't survive without your cooking; and Mrs. Amberson, you truly make our house tick. MRS. AMBERSON: Thank you, sir. DYLAN: You are welcome. (Cut to: hours later. Everyone had watched Downton Abbey. Everyone was exhausted.) ASHLEY: This was better than that swill they had at the dinner. CATHY: Thank you again, everyone. DEREK: I cannot believe that a formal dinner could be so awful. WENDY: This was better. MRS. HOLLIS: Should I take the dishes in? SHEILA: No, we'll do it. This is your night off. We've got it under control. (The servants watch in amazement as the family, in all their finery, take the plates out to the kitchen, where things are washed and taken care of. An hour later, they are right there, smiling in triumph.) SHEILA: All the dishes are done, food put away, and everything is all done. MRS. AMBERSON: Thank you. But you all need to get to bed. BRYAN: Yes. MRS. HOLLIS: You guys get some good sleep. You will be allowed to sleep in. You all will be getting breakfast in bed tomorrow. Thank you for all you did. SHEILA: Thank you. We appreciate it. AMELIA: I'll get the girls ready for bed. CATHY: What about my dress? MRS. AMBERSON: I will get it taken to the cleaners in the morning, miss. You don't worry about that. BRYAN: I will get the guys ready for their beds. DYLAN: Thank you, Bryan. BRYAN: You're quite welcome, sir. DEREK: Night, Mrs. Amberson. MRS. AMBERSON: Night, Master Derek. (The servants help their masters get upstairs and ready for bed. The scene fades.) Category:Episodes Category:Episodes featuring Dylan and Sheila